Saturday, September 29, 2018

The Swimming Pool Q's - Pow Wow Hour rarities 1982-86.

More request fulfillment. I didn't have much of a relationship with the Swimming Pool Q's music during their '80s heyday. In fact, you might argue that they didn't have much of a heyday at all at least not commercially, but on their two albums for A&M (1984's self-titled effort and Blue Tomorrow a couple years later) they made a noble run for the big time. A coed quintet from Atlanta, the Q's favored forward-thinking rock with rootsy undercurrents and themes that often reflected the dichotomies of operating as such in the deep south.

In 2013, A&M reissued the band's output for the label in a limited edition CD collection. The deluxe variant of this set included alongside the aforementioned records, an hour-long compendium of b-sides, outtakes and such all funneled under the title of Pow Wow Hour. Only problem was, the packaging fell a bit short and shoddy, and nowhere in the liner notes is the rarities portion mentioned or acknowledged. Translation: I can't tell you much of anything about where these songs were originally derived from, other than the time period of the mid-80s. Listening to it however, you do get a sense of the Q's diverse aplomb and overall tenor as a band with mainstream crossover potential, albeit with enough stubborn integrity to ensure they never sounded like a slick product of their era.

I'm not sure if I'm going to share the proper albums themselves at some point, as they might still be available from the usual suspects, but I'm pretty certain that the Pow Wow Hour tracks are unavailable at this point. Enjoy.

4 comments:

I'm a longtime fan of theirs, & I can't thank you enough for this. I always wanted more of the Q's, but never expected it to happen. I've never even seen a ROIO of them. This sounds great, too. Gracias.